Germany's Balanced Development: The Real Wealth of a Nation

ges and social charges, tariff restrictions, bureaucratic obstacles and so on.
Beyond this, all social groups in Germany--representatives of specialized
associations, state officials, trade union representatives and others--indulge in
lavish bouts of dissatisfaction about the state of the world and their own lots in
life, mixed with serf pity--and sometimes with self criticism.

This peculiarly Lutheran form of long-winded severity, sometimes tempered
with a more Catholic touch of "mea culpa, mea maxima culpa," has been raised
to a fine art in Germany. In simple terms, it can be said that many Germans are
talented hypochondriacs. Molière's malade imaginaire would probably feel very
much at his ease in today's Germany! For this reason, economic success in Germany is seldom perceived with the clarity that it deserves. As we shall see
in the chapter on cultural roots, religious, and philosophical traditions have led
to a culture of functional pessimism--as opposed to the optimism typical of the United States.

Constant dissatisfaction and self-criticism simultaneously signal a steady
search for improvement. As we shall see in the next chapter, strategies of
incremental innovation are a part of the business mentality. Thus, the
pessimism expressed by the Mittelstand also serves the function of verbalizing
a specifically German approach to innovation, one that constantly stresses
present deficiencies and the need for improvement.

Functional pessimism is not only a culturally induced mindset in the
German business environment: it is a kind of lingua franca for the constant
dialogue between representatives of capital, labor, government, and interest
groups that characterizes German society. Pessimistic statements and
viewpoints serve the purpose of curbing the demands made by the other party
in tariff negotiations, tax debates, and many other issues.

The Mittelstand embodies typically German norms. It has contributed to
social cohesion as much as to economic wealth. The Mittelstand is thus a microcosm, an integral part of a larger whole.

Rowland Berthoff, "Independence and Enterprise: Small Business in the
American Dream," in
Stuart W. Bruchey (ed.), Small Business in American Life ( New
York: Columbia University Press, 1980), pp. 33ff; for recent reports, see "Hot Growth
Companies," in Business Week, May 25, 1992, pp. 49-60 and Andrew E. Serwer "Lessons from America's fastest-growing companies," in Fortune, August 8, 1994, pp. 16-27.

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